The present invention relates to improved waterproof breathable waders.
Waders are long waterproof pants that have shoes, boots or booties attached and are most often used by fishermen and hunters. There exist many problems with these garments in that they are made of rubber and other materials that are impermeable but not breathable. Thus they retain water and moisture resulting in a "clammy" feeling and are also very heavy and cumbersome. Further, the materials used in the commercially available waders deteriorate very quickly as the rubber dry rots and the protective coatings on the nylon abraid readily.
Shoes are also attached to the pant legs which although provides additional waterproof protection to the fisherman, the one piece unit {pants with attached shoes}are often very heavy to carry and are extremely clumsy. Also the one piece units are very bulky and difficult to pack.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,953,566 and 4,187,390 disclose a method and article for making a form of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) that has properties of being both waterproof and breathable. U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,041 discloses an improvement on that material. U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,511 describes a method of making stretchable expanded PTFE. The materials of these patents have been used widely in waterproof breathable outdoor garments
such as Jackets, pants, gloves, boots, and socks. U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,447 describes a multi-component waterproof, sock-type article having a waterproof, non-elastic, non-stretch sole component with heel and toe, waterproof, non-elastic, non-stretch calf component, and a waterproof, breathable, elastic, stretchable vamp component.
There is a need to provide a lightweight, waterproof and breathable wader for use by fishermen, commercial fishermen, hunters, and backpackers.